


Onward Bound

by Nachtkind



Series: The Long Road [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Immortal Klaus Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nachtkind/pseuds/Nachtkind
Summary: Klaus talks with Ben about the long future.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: The Long Road [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119338
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Onward Bound

**Author's Note:**

> Strongly recommend to read the first work in this series for the backstory.

“There you are,” Ben remarks, pulling himself up from the opened window onto the sloped roof of the academy. “God, I haven’t been up here in years.”

Klaus is lying on his back, one hand tucked behind his head, staring into the sky. He glances over. “Oh, hi Ben.”

“Just “Ben”?” Klaus has nicknames for everyone, so Ben takes it as a point of concern that Klaus greets him with his chosen name. “Are you ok?”

Klaus sits up and looks at Ben’s face, giving him a tight smile. He gestures to the space beside him in a silent request for Ben to join him. As Ben settles down beside him, Klaus responds, “I’m ok.”

Ben studies Klaus’ face for a minute, trying to gauge what exactly “ok” means. “It’s peaceful up here.” He decides on the indirect approach. “It’s nice to just lie back and watch the stars.”

Klaus lets out a huff of disagreement, raising his eyebrows at Ben. “The stars here look like shit.”

“Ok? I mean, it’s a little hazy, but I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“Whatever – I guess if you don’t know any better this would be nice enough.” Klaus turns and looks back at the sky. “But the stars up in the mountains... they were unreal. One night.. they were all streaking across the sky – like it was raining light. I wish you could have seen it Benny – it was totally wild. I was dead sober too, I swear.”

“A meteor shower.”

“Wha?”

“That’s called a meteor shower.”

“Well there you go...” Klaus turns to looks over at his brother. “I wish you had been there.”

Ben reaches down to give Klaus’ have a squeeze, “Me too.”

Klaus turns back and gestures at the sky with his other hand. “I wonder about the other worlds out there, what they must be like.”

“I’ve always thought there must be other life out there too - no one really knows of course – but then, aliens aren’t any more unbelievable than our messed-up lives.”

“No, seriously, there are other worlds. The Little Girl told me about them once.”

“Little Girl... you mean God?”

“I suppose you could call her that,” Klaus says disdainfully. “She told me our world isn’t the only one. They are all different, and they all have their own problems.” Klaus looks over at Ben. “Do you know what she told me the problem is with our world?”

Ben is genuinely curious, “What?”

Klaus breaks into a huge grin, “Ghosts. Our planet has too many fucking ghosts.” Klaus says it like he is telling a joke.

Ben’s brow furrows, “Oof,” he says in sympathy.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

They lie in silence for a moment before Ben speaks again, “So if you aren’t watching the shitty stars, what are you doing up here?”

Klaus sighs. He sits up and reaches into his pocket for his cigarettes and a lighter. He lights one and lets out a long drag before speaking. “I was listening.”

“...Go on...”

“There are so many people here. I was... listening to the city. It’s nice. I never got used to how quiet it was on the mountain. It was the sound of being totally alone. I hated it sometimes.”

Ben reflects on this for a moment and then chooses his words carefully, “You’ve been home for a few months and you’ve hardly even left the academy. Have you thought about what you want to do next?”

“Isn’t that the million-dollar question,” Klaus takes another long drag on his cigarette and then points it at Ben. He pauses for emphasis, “...Fuck if I know.” He flicks the cherry and goes for another drag.

Ben sighs when he realizes that this is all the answer he is going to get. “I’m serious Klaus, you can’t just keep drifting. It’s not healthy. You have a choice now; you can finally build a life.”

Klaus scrubs at his face with his hands. “I know your serious, but what can I say – I don’t have a plan. I’ve always just been surviving. I never thought about a life I wanted because I never imagined I would have a choice.” He takes another drag and snuffs the cigarette out but has no place to leave the butt. He stares at it briefly before deciding to just continue holding it between his fingers.

Ben rolls his eyes. “Here,” he says – extending his hand. Klaus hands him the stub and Ben scrambles down to drop it in on the windowsill, shaking his head, but smiling at the same time.

As he climbs back up Klaus asks him, “Do you ever think about our time together on the street? Life was so simple back then.”

Ben stares at Klaus in disbelief. “I don’t even... life was so far from simple then. How can you say that? I thought you were going to _die_ every day. That was like... the opposite of simple. That was hard, a hard life. What kind of ass-backward logic can you possible use to justify a statement like that?”

Klaus huffs. “Ok, simple for me then. That was back before I lost Dave and back before I knew I was trapped. Dad was a bastard, but not a full-blown psychopath. Ignorance really is bliss... And so was all the molly.” Klaus stares off wistfully, overplaying the mood for dramatic effect.

“What do you mean “trapped”?” Ben asks.

Klaus grimaces at Ben’s insistence on keeping the conversation serious. “Trapped – as in stuck. As in, cannot get out. You said it yourself, we both thought I was going to _die._ The Great Escape. Instead, it’s the Great Cannot Escape.”

“Jesus Klaus, don’t talk like that.”

“Relax – this is just the facts of my life. When have you ever seen a movie or show about an immortal being who was actually happy about it? Living forever sucks. That’s superpower 101.”

“Do you really think you’re going to live forever?”

“It’s complicated.” Ben gives Klaus a look that means he is not going to accept such a weak answer. In their old lives, that look would have held no power, Klaus could easily ignore that look and more from Ben for days if he wasn’t in the mood to talk. But now Klaus finds that he doesn’t mind opening up more. Klaus sighs and continues, “It’s not so much that I think I’m going to live forever as I _know_ when I’m going to die and it’s a really long time from now. Like, this-is-going-to-be-ancient-history kind of time from now.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Ben sounds skeptical. Klaus just points up. “The Little Girl?” Klaus nods. “What else has she told you?”

“Oh we got to be best buds. Daddy dearest made sure I made plenty of social calls when I was still living here. I’ve got all the gossip.”

“OK... and she told you when you were going to die. Did she say how? I take it isn’t something you can avoid then?”

“Yeah, it’s like – completely unavoidable. The details were kind of light to be honest. I just know I can’t die for at least,” Klaus holds up his fingers for air quotes, “a few hundred years... maybe thousands.”

Ben is shocked. “That’s a long time.... but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You’ll have a life to live.”

“It’s not a _bad_ thing, per se, just a bit claustrophobic. Things aren’t so bad right now, but it can always get worse. I don’t want to end up alone again, but with my track record - it’s pretty inevitable.”

“You don’t have to be alone... I could always stick around.” Ben’s voice is soft and low.

“God Ben, don’t say stuff like that. I’m selfish enough I might just take you up on it. I have a better idea. Why don’t we just worry about the future when it comes? I would much rather not talk about it now, ok? Besides, I’m still hoping for a hot little number that I can sweep off his feet and then watch him grow old.”

Ben holds out his hand to Klaus. “Deal, we’ll table the discussion for now. But don’t think I’m going to let you off the hook. We’re a family now and we’ve faced bigger problems that this. Our lives may be ridiculously screwed up, but we don’t have to go it alone.”

Klaus smiles and ignores Ben’s hand completely, going in for a hug instead.


End file.
